Barred Tiger Salamander
Ambystoma marvortium marvortium
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- A. m. mavortium – Brewster Co, TX – photo by D. Craig McIntyre
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- A. m. mavortium – Motley Co, TX – photo by Ben Stupavsky
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- A. m. mavortium – Motley Co, TX – photo by Ben Stupavsky
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- Map by Steve Bledsoe, SWCHR
DISTRIBUTION: In our region, Ambystoma m. mavortium occurs throughout much of western 2/3 of Texas and the eastern 2/3 of New Mexico. This and other forms of Tiger Salamanders have been sold extensively throughout the western states as fish bait resulting in numerous introduced populations outside of their natural range in the Southwestern U.S.
LEGAL STATUS: No Listings
MEANING OF SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ambystoma mavortium mavortium (Baird, 1850)
Genus: Ambystoma, Greek – amby = round, like the rounded top of a cup + stoma = mouth — poss. ref. large rounded mouth
Species/Subspecies: mavortium, Latin = war-like — ref. Mars, Roman god of war; possibly named from a large neotenic adult individual or a cannibalistic morph with an extra row of teeth – either would be enough to provoke a reference to ancient war gods!
Ref. Ellen Beltz 2006
Ref. E. Jaeger 1962